Currently manufactured vehicle roofs are not made as sheet metal roofs welded to, or integrally formed with, a roof frame. Instead, vehicle roofs are increasingly made from a roof module, which is produced by a supplier, that is permanently and rigidly fixed to the roof frame. Note that the phrase “permanently and rigidly fixed” as used in the present description does not exclude the option of removing the roof module from the frame in a workshop to be replaced by a new roof module. In this case, the new roof module will also be permanently and rigidly fixed on the roof frame.
The roof module is usually made of plastic and has an outer skin of aluminum foil or plastic film, for instance, that is provided with a foamed backing layer. Vehicle roof modules of this type may be configured with or without a roof opening system, which opens a movable cover. In a roof module with a roof opening system, a separate frame is screwed to the outer skin from below. The separate frame is configured to accommodate and guide drive cables that open and close the movable cover to prevent the drive cables from buckling. However the frame increases the amount of vertical space occupied by the roof module. Further, there may be a desire to secure more add-on components to the roof module from the inside of the vehicle, increasing the overall cost of the roof module and creating installation problems due to restricted space.
There is a desire for a compact and stable vehicle roof module that simplifies attachment of add-on components, even in the case of retrofitting, and which makes a roof opening system easier to integrate with the roof module.